Nelson Motta
Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília - "This is quite a challenge and it means we have a lot of work to do if we want to achieve the Millennium Goals," declared president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the opening ceremony of Mobilization Week for Citizenship and Solidarity (Semana Nacional de Mobilização pela Cidadania e Solidariedade), in the city of Belo Horizonte.

According to the president, it will be difficult for Brazil to achieve the Millennium Goals. "I don't know if we are going to make it," said Lula. But he pointed out that during his international travels he has constantly raised the issue of hunger and poverty because it is not a regular issue on the international agenda. "It is one thing for a researcher to have statistics on hungry people. And another thing to realize that if you do not resolve the problem of hunger and poverty, you cannot resolve other problems," said the president.

The Millennium Goals were established in September 2000 at the UN Millennium Summit in New York. Leaders of 191 countries, including Brazil, agreed to eliminate extreme hunger and poverty by 2015, while promoting improved healtcare, sanitation, education, housing, environmental protection and gender equality.

Translator: Allen Bennett